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Post-Keynesian economics refers to a collection of emerging schools within macroeconomics that are attempting to "go back to the basics" of the work of John Maynard Keynes. In the post-World War II era, after Keynes died, his theories merged with more neoclassical-oriented thought and became the schools called New Keynesianism and neo-Keynesianism. These schools sought to root Keynes' ideas in a microeconomic approach. Post-Keynesians, by focusing more on macro-effects, have in one way moved closer back to Keynes, but have also introduced many ideas not found in his work.

The years since 2008 have been labeled the "Keynesian Resurgence" because of the return to Keynes' work after the dominance of neoclassically oriented schools like New Keynesianism and the Chicago school.

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Many Post-Keynesians either fall into the "circuitists" or the "neo-chartalists" (more often called "modern monetary theory"), though these two groups aren't mutually exclusive and there is a good deal of overlap. Both reject the idea of neutral money. Circuitists generally emphasize the role of credit money as primary (loans made by banks) while neo-chartalists emphasize the role of high-powered money (hard cash and credit lent to banks by the Federal Reserve). Circuitists base their theories on Augusto Graziani's Theory of the Monetary Circuit as well as Keynes. Neo-chartalists base their theories on the original chartalist ideas of Abba Lerner and their later reformulation by Warren Mosler.

Although the Post-Keynesians are a diverse group, many share similar beliefs, some of which may include:

The government as a sovereign issuer of money. This is a commonly known fact, but important especially to neo-chartalists as they draw many implications from it. They believe that most people, the government included, act as if the nation still ran on the gold standard.

The government doesn't collect taxes or spend them. Taxes "destroy" currency and spending "creates" currency because fiat currency is only backed by the government's faith. So taxing money out of the economy is the same as destroying it (the money, not the economy).

Financial transactions always create an offsetting liability. There are always three parties, not two, involved in a transaction: buyer, seller, and bank. This is because all money is credit. Cash ("high-powered money") is a liability of the Fed, credit (like credit cards) is a liability of your bank, and that credit is created by loaning out against the bank's reserve of high-powered money. Some post-Keynesians add the government as the insurer and protector of transactions and property rights being a fourth party.

Rejection of "crowding out". Government spending does not crowd out monetary resources because spending "creates" more money.

Rejection of the money multiplier. Banks can loan reserves to each other or get money from the Fed's discount window, making the money multiplier a formality without much real meaning.

Rejection of equilibrium. Post-Keynesians believe the market is dynamic and rarely if ever in equilibrium; markets might be above or below equilibrium level at any given time.

Belief that the economy should be viewed in historical time and with uncertainty of future expectations.

Government spending is limited by high levels of inflation, not tax revenue.

Importance of the credit cycle as part of the business cycle. Mostly modeled off of Hyman Minsky's "Financial Instability Hypothesis" which states that excessive credit given out "endogenously" over long periods of stability will necessarily lead to riskier investments, and therefore instability. This continues until speculators realize an asset's price is artificially inflated, causing them to sell it all at once, causing the asset price to fall to the ground. That results in what is called a "Minsky moment", and thus financial crisis.